Boulder's NCAR in agreement with NOAA to upgrade forecast modeling

Meteorologist/forecaster Bob Koopmeiners looks over data while working at the David Skaggs Research Center at NOAA in Boulder on Dec. 21. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)

Busalacchi

Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are teaming up to make significant changes to the way computer models are developed to support the nation's weather and climate forecast system.

The two recently signed a memorandum of agreement that establishes a new partnership to design a common modeling infrastructure intended to be easy to access, transparent and available to both public and private researchers, including industry and academia.

The goal of the pact is to help the nation's weather and climate modeling scientists achieve mutual benefits through more shared resources, strategic collaboration and information, according to a news release.

"By combining NCAR's community modeling expertise with NOAA's excellence in real-time operational forecasting, this agreement will accelerate our ability to predict weather and climate in ways that are vital for protecting life and property," Antonio Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, said in a statement. UCAR manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation.

"This will enable the nation to produce world-class models that are second to none, generating substantial benefits for the American taxpayer."

The newly signed agreement sets the governance allowing NCAR and NOAA to prioritize and coordinate existing and ongoing investments, but does not replace existing governance structures or commit any new funding for the agencies' collaborative work.

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The pact marks a fundamental shift toward community modeling, a concept enabling the entire weather enterprise to speed the transition of new approaches from research to operations, the release stated. Additionally, it allows NOAA to transition to a Unified Forecast System — a community-based, coupled comprehensive weather and climate modeling system — with its partners.

"Historically, different architectures for developing weather and climate models across the public and private sector created challenges for implementing the very best systems quickly," Neil Jacobs, NOAA assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, said in a statement.

"This new framework streamlines the entire process and gives both researchers and forecasters the same tools across the weather enterprise to accelerate the development of forecast models."

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